Russia: defense contractor unveils new 3D-printed drone

The Russian United Instrument Manufacturing Corporation (UIMC) presented the first ever unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to be built in the country using a three-dimensional printer, the corporation’s press service said in a statement.

“The United Instrument Manufacturing Corporation has presented at the Innoprom trade fair Russia’s first unmanned aerial vehicle that was created entirely by using 3-D printing”, the statement reads.

Drones of this type could be manufactured in a day, while spare parts for it could be created in 15-20 minutes.

According to the statement, the drone is designed to conduct reconnaissance and monitoring missions.

UIMC is a part of Russia’s state technologies corporation Rostec, which was set up to stimulate the production of competitive, technically advanced products for high-tech and communications systems.

On July 11-14, the Russian city of Yekaterinburg hosts the annual Innoprom industrial trade fair. According to the event’s press service, the 2016 edition of the fair is focused on the issues of integration of industrial production and data transfer, new manufacturing architecture, international production cooperation and new model of efficient manufacturing for traditional industries. (Russian Aviation/Business World Magazine)